Finnerty

SUMMARY

Ellen Hughes Finnerty, a registered nurse, petitioned for a writ of mandate requiring the Board of Registered Nursing (Board) to set aside its decision disciplining her for gross negligence and incompetence. The Board disciplined Finnerty in connection with an incident during which Finnerty refused to comply with a resident physician’s order that a patient be intubated immediately in his room, and instead insisted on first moving (and did move) the patient to the intensive care unit, where the intubation was then performed. The trial court found the weight of the evidence supported the Board’s conclusion that Finnerty’s conduct constituted both incompetence and gross negligence, and denied Finnerty’s petition. Because the trial court’s findings are supported by substantial evidence, we affirm the judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In the early morning hours of August 17, 2002, Finnerty, a nurse with more than 20 years of experience, was working as a “resource” or “charge” nurse, responsible for (among other duties) monitoring the condition of patients in two stations, including a “subacute” unit (station 25), at Huntington Memorial Hospital. One of the…